Prosthetic arms are well known. A prosthetic arm is an artificially made substitute for an arm, or portion of an arm, that was perhaps lost through a congenital defect, accident, illness, or wartime injury.
Many prosthetic arms will not contain a permanent hand. Rather, the prosthetic arm will end at the wrist, wherein the user can then screw in the hand (hereinafter “prosthetic attachment”). FIG. 1 shows prosthetic attachment 4 removably attached to prosthetic arm 1. It is desirable to have attachments that are removable so that the user may change the style depending upon the current need. For example, the user may be in a social setting and might therefore want the attachment to resemble a traditional hand, even though the hand may have limited functionality. On another occasion the user may need to do a lot of heavy lifting, in which case the attachment may be a hook.
The prior art method of attaching hand 4 to arm 1 is via threaded bolt 5 (FIGS. 2-4). Bolt 5 is threaded into internal threads 6 of prosthetic arm 1. Utilizing the prior art method of attachment, the user must correctly thread hand 4 onto arm 1 and turn hand 1 until appropriately tightened and positioned at the correct angle. This can be time consuming and very challenging to individuals with multiple limb problems, children or the elderly.
What is needed is a better more efficient way of attaching a removably attached prosthetic attachment to a prosthetic limb.